Grading and ditching machine.



W. H. MORENUS. GRADING A-ND DITCHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED Arms, 1911.

1,053,203. I Patented Feb.-18,1913.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. MORENUS, OF LAKE VIEW, IOWA, ASSIGNOB TO AUSTIN MANUFAC- TUBING COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINQIS ,'A CORPORATION or ILLINoIs.

GRADING AND DITGHIIIG MACHINE.

Patented Feb; 18,1913.

Application filed April 6, 1911. Serial No. 619,198.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. MORE NUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lake View, in the county of Sac and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gradlng and DltClllIlg It has been f )und in practice that a con: siderable quantity of dirt will accumulate within the conveyer. belt at thelower end thereof and various means have been provided for removing this dirt. Some of these mean-i have been hand operated and in my Patent No. 667,551 dated February 5, 1901 I disclose a scraper for freeing the inner side of the upper leaf of the conveyer belt from adhering soil, a shelf or guard arranged between the belt leaves in position to receive the soil from the scraper, and a hand operated ejector arranged to travel over the scraper to remove the soil therefrom at the sides of the conveyer belt. Other means have been employed for the same purpose, such as an endless scraper belt, operated by contact with the ground over which the machine travels, a screw conveyer, and an endless chain driven from the conveyer rollers. Some of these devices have been tried in actual use but none of them has been found commercially practical for doing the work required. When the mach'ne is operating in gumbo or sticky soil th parts. of these scraper deviceswill becom'e clogged to such an extent that they are inoperative and it has been the practice to remove these ,devices from the machines after they have thus proven their inefliciency and to thereafter remove the accumulated dirt by hand. The object of this invention is to provide a power operated scraperchain for removing the dirt which accumulates on the shelf within the conveyer and to run this chain above the conveyer and drive it from the rear axle of the machine continuously as the machine travels so that it may operate inlall kinds of soil and without liability of becoming clogged or gummed up. In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention Figure 1 is a side elevaand carry it tion, partly in section, with the conveyer belt partly broken away,' and showing as much of the machine. with my inventionembodied therewith as is' necessary to understand the invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view of the lower end of the conveyer, partly in sec tion, Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the parts shownin Fig.2. Fig. 4 is a detail plan view, partly in section, of the driving devices. Fig. 5 is a" detail plan view of-the supporting bracket for the upper sprocket roller.

Referring to the drawings 5 designates generally the frame of the "machine, 6 the conveyer belt which travels over the roller 1 7 8 the scraper and 9 the shelf, all of these parts being old and well known. A countershaft 10 is'supported from the main frame adjacent to the rear axle 11 and is driven from said axle by a sprocket chain 12 traveling on the sprocket wheels 13 and 14. The scraper chain 15 travelsbetween the upper leaf of the conveyer belt and the shelfiand over idle sprockets 16 at the 'sides of the belt, the idle sprocket 17 on the frame above the belt and over the driving sprocket 18 fastened on the counter-shaft. The sprockets 16 are supported in suitable Brackets 16 on the conveyer belt frame. The driving sprocketis adjustable on the counter-shaft to which it is locked by a feather 19. and set screw 20. The upper sprocket 17' is supported in a bracket- 21 which is fastened by bolts arranged in the i let 22 of a plate 23 secured to the main rame.

The conveyer of these machines is usually made so that its lower end can be adjusted and can be easily ap lied to machines already in use. The chaln runs through the conveyer belt in one direction only and constantly removes the dirt which accumulates on the shelf; Sometimes'the dirt is depos itcd by the plow on the conveyer belt to a height of two feet and for this reasonl lo- 'cate the. upper sprocket 17 at a sufficient height above the conveyer belt to clear the tersPateht is: I

1. In a grading or ditching machine having a plow or digger, thecombinationbf a maln frame, a conveyer belt whlch receives soil from the plow or digger, a scraper and a shelf arranged within said beltat the lower end thereof, a sprocket above the conveyer belt, and an endless scraper chain provided with .a plurality of outwardlyextending scrapin blades arranged to travel in a substantia ly vertical plane through the belt and above the shelf in one direction, and over the said sprocket and above the belt and shelf in the opposite direction, substantially as described. I i

2. a In a grading or ditching machine having a low or digger, the combination of a main rame, a conveyer belt which receives soil from the plow or digger, a scraper and' a shelf arranged within said belt at the lower end thereof, a counter-shaft driven from the rear axle of, the machine, a sprocket above the conveyer belt, and an endless scraper chain driven over said counter-shaft and traveling through the belt and overthe shelf in one direction and over the belt and said sprocket in the' other direction, substantially as described.

.3. In a grading or ditching machine having-a plow or digger, the combination of a main frame, a conveyer belt which receives soil from the plow or digger, a scraper and a shelf arranged within said belt at the lower end thereof, sprocket wheels at each end of the shelf, a sprocket wheel adjustably supported on the frame above the belt, a counter-shaft driven from the rear axle, a sprocket wheel adjustably mounted on said shaft, and an endless scraper chain trained over said sprocket wheels and traveling through the belt and over said shelf in one direction and. over the belt in the other direction, substantially as described.

4. In a grading or ditching machine having a plow or digger, the combination of a main frame, a conveyer belt which receives soil from the plow or digger, a scraper and a shelf arranged within said belt at the lower end thereof, an idler above the conveyer belt, and an endless scraper chain arranged to travel in a substantially vertical plane through the belt and above the shelf in one direction, and over the said idler and above the belt and shelf in the op osite direction, substantially as describe I WILLIAM H. MORENUS. Witnesses:

' WM. 0. BELT, y M. A. KIDDIE. 

